Friday, March 18, 2016

VOTE FOR CRUZ, GET KASICH?

Some establishment Republicans are trying to rally around Ted Cruz. This news broke yesterday:
In a sign of just how much the Republican presidential primary has turned the party on its head, Sen. Lindsey Graham will headline a fundraiser on Monday in support of Ted Cruz.

Graham told CNN that while the Texas senator is not his preferred candidate, he's "the best alternative to Donald Trump," and he said he will "help Ted in every way I can."
Then last night there was this:
Marco Rubio is close to endorsing Ted Cruz....

The buzz about a Rubio endorsement of Cruz intensified after the St. Paul Pioneer Press on Thursday reported that the Florida senator called his Texas colleague “the only conservative left in the race.”
But today we read this:
In the event of a contested Republican convention this summer, John Kasich is the candidate most acceptable to GOP delegates.

That’s according to members of The POLITICO Caucus -- a panel of political insiders in seven battleground states....

... insiders said Kasich has alienated fewer Republicans....

... Others pointed to Kasich’s electability in the fall and insisted GOP delegates would pick a candidate who can win.

...But Kasich’s appeal on the convention floor might have more to do with the nature of the delegate pool than with Kasich himself.

... “Delegates tend to come from the donor class/establishment wing of the GOP,” an Iowa Republican pointed out in choosing Kasich, adding that most delegates are “older party regulars.”
I'm trying to imagine how I'd feel if I were an angry anti-establishment GOP voter from a state that hasn't had its primary or caucus yet, someone who liked both Trump and Cruz but leaned toward Cruz, and I read these three stories. I'd really have to wonder if voting for Cruz would make me a useful idiot -- Cruz probably can't earn enough delegates to win outright on the first ballot, so the establishment wants him to do well only so he can deny Trump a first-ballot victory, at which point it's time for bait-and-switch.

So I'd want to vote Trump. At least I'd know that if I'm voting for Trump, I'm getting Trump.

Yeah, it's just politics. But I understand the disgust of people who've been duped all these years into believing that there's something pure and noble and idealistic about voting GOP, or at least about voting "Tea Party" GOP or "constitutional conservative" GOP or whatever the hell they're calling it this week. They were told there'd be no defeat and no compromise. Naturally, that's what they still want.

If Trump somehow wins the presidency and doesn't rule the way he campaigned, I don't know what we'll get from his voters. Revolution? Random shootings? Hard to tell, but it won't be pleasant.

6 comments:

retiredeng said...

Cruz?????? Really? Cruz?

Feud Turgidson said...

Steve, if you'd have been voting R all these years, the book on whether your're a "useful idiot" would have closed long ago.

The Cook Political Report is now reporting that the very idea of the Dems taking the House is starting to show up on the horizon. At this point, Cook puts it down to how it's become clear that the two most likely alternatives for the GOP nom are both highly objectionable and probably not electable. But IMO the prospect of a Drumpf or a Canadian Cruz are going to turn out only two among a host of negative vibe sources: the clear difficulty that the majority of GOP establishemnt types that make up the R Congressnioal Caucus are having keeping their food down as they discuss their options; the current Game of Throw-ups going on at the edges of the GOP where intra-party insurgency is in every sentence; the coming Clusterfuck in Cleveland, with non-stop protests and police in riot gear hassling protesters and if not riots them stuff that'll sure look like riots and insurrection and stasi crackdowns in a failed state going on outside, while inside the party goes into full meltdown mode, all before the cameras of 5 plus domestic maior televised news and a world of observors. Yeah, that's sure gonna imbue confidence in would be GOPer voters.

Unknown said...

Cruz is probably worse than Trump, if that's possible.

Unknown said...

So, the GOP has been lying to these voters for years and years, promising them everything their hearts desired, whether it was a Theocracy for Jesus; a white-power homeland where they didn't have to worry about the potential of "dem kelered peepol" to take their jobs, their women, or their social standing; or ammosexual's paradise where women, gays, and the hated liberals would always be a minority screeching from the sides about social justice and equality as the great gun-focused free-market society ran rushing into the new dawn of the American Century with bombs and missiles and the exploding heads of Bad Guys. For 40 years it's been lies lies lies, as they were told they must be patient, that these changes take time.

And then these people started to notice that their votes counted, regardless of who they voted for. And that they could generate their own candidates, and the other factions would vote for their guy rather than suffer a Democrat to serve, so they started running people in primaries.

And their guys started winning primaries.

Once Frankenstein's Monster has been taught to speak and read, and once Victor has refused to animate the Bride, what further use does the Monster have for Victor?

So now we see poor Victor the GOP lost out on the ice, starving and half-mad, raving about being pursued by a relentless creature of his own devising, bent on revenge.

Should we feel pity for Victor the GOP? I feel more empathy for the Monster; it has been lied to and rejected by it's parent for so long, no wonder it is lashing out in rage and grief.

In the end, the Monster must again be sent adrift on the ice floe away from human civilization. It's nature can not be reconciled to polite society; it is anathema. But at one time it might have been possible to integrate the Monster into the general population, given the correct instruction and practice by concerned care-givers.

Too bad the Monster only ever had Victor the GOP. It never had a chance.

Ten Bears said...

Try to imagine how you'de feel if you were an angry anti-establishment voter from a state that hasn't had its primary or caucus yet, and wonder if voting would be useful.

Both sides really do do it.

jsrtheta said...

Trump wouldn't rule the way he campaigned. This entire campaign is personal. Trump would first go after that kid who beat him up in the third grade, and move on from there.

And then yes, I expect things will get very violent. Because it would be the ultimate betrayal.